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Gala & Special Presentations VIFF series

Galas & Special Presentations

Highly anticipated films screening in our marquee venue

Image: Corsage, VIFF 2022

The Banshees of Inisherin

Award Winners Drama

When Colm (Brendan Gleeson) decides he's had enough of his best pal (Colin Farrell) because he's just too boring, the entire village is consumed in the drama in this contemplative and uproarious comedy from Martin McDonagh (In Bruges; Three Billboards).

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Bones of Crows

Human Rights & Social Justice Women Directors

Vancouver-born Dene/Métis writer-director Marie Clements lays out a hard history of Indigenous resilience in this urgent, harrowing epic, spanning most of the 20th century; the story of a Cree woman from childhood, through residential school, WWII, and beyond.

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Broker

Award Winners Comedy Drama

Shoplifters director Kore-eda fashions a sprawling, compassionate crime story set in South Korea about a half-baked baby adoption scam led by Song Kang-ho (Parasite; The Host). Winner of Best Actor at Cannes Film Festival.

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Corsage

Award Winners Comedy Drama Women Directors

Marie Kreutzer’s biopic takes us to the late 19th century, when Empress Elisabeth of Austria has been politically sidelined. Imagining her as a proto-feminist rebel, Kreutzer is not afraid to depart from the historical record to do so.

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Empire of Light

Drama Romance

Olivia Colman shines as an unhappy woman rediscovering romance with a young Black man in the English seaside cinema where they both work in this classy, transformative valentine to the movies from 1917 director Sam Mendes.

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EO

Award Winners Drama

Veteran director Jerzy Skolimowski returns in triumphant form with this tale of animal life. Sometimes harsh, sometimes sweet, always beautiful, EO tells the story of a donkey and its journey through a world dominated by humans.

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The Grizzlie Truth

Documentary Women Directors

Kathleen S. Jayme (Finding Big Country) is out to solve a true sports crime: who robbed us of the Vancouver Grizzlies? Jayme revisits the short history of those bad luck bears, connecting the dots and reconnecting with the Grizzlies heroes and villains.

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One Fine Morning

Drama Women Directors

A single mother working to support her young daughter and her ailing father, navigates the labyrinthine system of care homes, with their financial and logistical burdens. Then, an encounter with an old friend blossoms into a passionate affair.

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The Son

Drama

Teenager Nicolas is suffering from severe depression. It's so bad, his mom (Laura Dern) hands him over to his father, Peter (Hugh Jackman), who is celebrating a baby with his new wife, Beth. Like The Father, this is sharp, insightful, devastating.

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Stars at Noon

Action & Suspense Award Winners Drama Romance Women Directors

In Claire Denis's Cannes Jury prize winner, a US journalist is marooned in Managua, stripped of her passport and forced to trade sex for protection. An English businessman seems a good prospect, but gradually she sees he's in more trouble than she is.

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Triangle of Sadness

Award Winners Comedy Drama

A luxury cruise for the super rich goes very, very wrong in this Cannes-winning social satire from the director of The Square. Uproariously funny at times and deeply cynical, this is a must-see.

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The Whale

Art, Music & Photography Drama LGBTQIA2S+

Charlie (Brendan Fraser) may finally realize his wish of eating himself to death. First, he reaches out to the teenage daughter he hasn't seen in 10 years. This compassionate chamber piece is a change of pace from Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky.

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Women Talking

Award Winners Drama Women Directors

Sarah Polley's adaptation of Miriam Toews' novel is the most compelling movie to come out the #MeToo movement to date, with stellar performances from Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, and Frances McDormand as Mennonite women confronting a terrible truth.

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